New Cultural Economy resource available.

Yesterday, the Monmouth County Division of Planning released a new report on the status of the cultural economy in the county and beyond. “Measuring Monmouth County’s Creative Economy” features data on economic impact of the cultural sector and detailed examination of the cultural employee base. The study team was led by one of CCP’s founders, Joe Barris, who is the Assistant Planning Director of Monmouth County. It is a product of the planning division’s collaboration with Monmouth Arts and it’s MOCO Arts Corridor Partnership. (See more about CCP’s work with MOCO is this previous post). The highly effective MOCO partnership was created as a result of recommendations in the 2010 Coastal Monmouth Plan.

“Measuring Monmouth County’s Creative Economy” is a 14-page document designed with intention to present a detailed look at the area cultural activities. In so doing, it provides compelling support for the value of the arts and the people who create them. It is concise and rich in graphic support . The report is particularly notable for two reasons:

Most accounts on this subject define the creative industries broadly to include workers in various fields of development, engineering, scientific research, etc. This study confines itself specifically to the arts and cultural sector.

While the focus is on this sector in Monmouth, you will find in this report a comparative analysis of arts/culture economic impact in 14 northern and central New Jersey counties. This analysis not only details standings of relational data from among the counties but identifies gaps and opportunities in Monmouth County.

We applaud our colleagues in Monmouth County for undertaking this effort. We encourage other counties to conduct similar investigation and resource development in order to provide a comprehensive picture of opportunites for and impact of the arts and cultural sector on the economy of New Jersey municipalities and the entire state.

You will find the full study “Measuring Monmouth County’s Creative Economy” here.